South Africa’s (SA) National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has detected two different polio virus strains in wastewater samples collected from a treatment plant in Cape Town.<\/p>\n
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The discovery was made through the NICD’s routine environmental surveillance programme, which uses wastewater testing to monitor the circulation of diseases within communities.<\/p>\n
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The institute stressed that the detection does not indicate a polio outbreak and that there is currently no cause for public alarm. SA was certified polio-free by the World Health Organisation in 2019, and polio remains a vaccine-preventable disease.<\/p>\n
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According to the NICD, the virus strains are likely linked to imported cases involving individuals vaccinated with oral polio vaccines that are not used in SA. The finding suggests the viruses may have been shed by vaccinated travellers or visitors passing through the country.<\/p>\n
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Health authorities have nevertheless urged the public to remain vigilant and ensure any suspected polio symptoms are reported promptly to healthcare providers.<\/p>\n
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Symptoms can include progressive muscle or joint weakness, pain, fatigue, muscle wasting, breathing or swallowing difficulties, and sleep-related breathing disorders. However, the NICD noted that these symptoms are also associated with a range of other medical conditions.<\/p>\n
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The institute said ongoing surveillance remains an important tool in maintaining SA’s polio-free status and detecting potential health threats before they spread.<\/p>\n
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–ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24128,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-35200","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"SA's NICD has detected two different polio virus strains in wastewater samples","published_date":"2026-05-23 08:34:21","news_description":"SA's NICD has detected two different polio virus strains in wastewater samples","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35201,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/35200\/revisions\/35201"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=35200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}